Google is hiring test drivers in Arizona

As Google prepares to deploy its self-driving car fleet to Chandler, Arizona, the company is hiring local drivers to test its vehicles.

The company intends to hire local drivers in Arizona who will act as “vehicle safety specialists” that will be behind the wheel of its self-driving cars and ready to take over should an unforeseen problem or circumstance arise.

Google is offering these new recruits $20 per hour to drive its vehicles for six to eight hours a day. They will have to sign a 12-24 month contract and provide written and oral feedback to the company's engineers. Google will require the drivers to have a bachelor's degree, a typing speed of over 40 words per minute and both a clean driving and criminal record. All of the work that they do with the company will also have to remain confidential and there will be a number of in- and out-of-car training courses to pass as well.

The head of Google's Self-Driving Car testing program, Brian Torcellini explained how the program will work to The Republic: “The role of test driver is so new that there isn't a particular type of person that we look for. We've hired people from all types of backgrounds, from English teachers to orbital welders.”

In April of this year, the company announced that it would be bringing its self-driving car program to Arizona. The goal of this new deployment is to test how well Google's vehicles are able to drive in desert conditions.

To gain further insight into how they operate in rainy conditions, the company is testing its self-driving cars in Kirkland, Washington, Austin, Texas, and Mountain View, California.